THE HOLLOW

5 stars out of 5

At 75, retired Los Angeles Police Department detective Harry Bosch is about three seasons away from a spring chicken (if nothing else, as evidenced by the fact that this is the 26^th book in which he’s got the lead role and he’s nursing an age-related knee replacement). But that doesn’t stop him from remaining on the prowl; as this story opens, he’s trying to nail Gregory Talbot, a man Harry is certain murdered his wife Jennifer 25 years ago but never was able to prove it. At the outset, he’s watching the guy at his late wife’s cemetery plot.

Nothing viable happens there, so Harry hobbles to his car and heads for home, where his half-brother (and star of a different series by this author), and attorney Mickey Haller is waiting. Harry, he explains, is due to receive a substantial payout as a result of a class-action lawsuit against a state-run home for underage orphans – a home to which Harry was sent (and escaped from more than once) after his mother was murdered when he was kid.

Money isn’t everything, though, especially for a man like Harry. In fact, Mickey’s news brings back awful memories of Charles Lamb, a.k.a., “Chops,” a much-bullied kid who Harry befriended back then but who later was found dead in an under-the-stairs hideaway. Most likely, whoever killed Chops is long dead, but Harry’s memories are very much alive. He becomes obsessed with finding the truth – someone, somewhere must have some clues as to what really happened, even after six decades. To that end, Harry begins what will be an exhaustive (both physically and mentally) investigation into a past he’d rather forget.

Progress on both investigations quickly escalates into a tangled web, with danger lurking at just about every turn of the page. All I’m willing to reveal, though, is that despite all the twists and turns, everything gets straightened out in the end – and the whole thing makes for a great read I heartily recommend to others (especially fans of Harry and Mickey, though the book stands on its own well). All I’ll say beyond that is a big thank you to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to catch all the action by way of a pre-release copy.

The Hollow by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown & Co., October 2026); 352 pp.